Leaving Chiang Mai on to Koh Chang

Tomorrow we leave Chiang Mai and fly to Bangkok and hopefully get on an over night bus to Koh Chang - an Island near the southern Cambodia / Thailand border. We have loved our time in Chiang Mai. The first day we arrived we walked around the city, Kori got fitted for her suits and we were able to attend their famous Sunday night market. Which had amazing street food and all sorts of useless junk - which Alexa and I participated in...we now have a blinking flying airplane, multiple bracelets, and paintings. We were able to meet up with some friends that we met in Southern Thailand, who showed us the "lady boy" district. Our cooking teacher taught us the phrase "same same but different", which is what lady boys tell men that figure out that they aren't actually women. Prostitution is so open here it is crazy. Luckily being girls we aren't really subjected to the hollers of the lady boys. The third day we took a cooking class, as mentioned in the last post. We took a train into the countryside and rode bikes to pick our ingredients. We each made five different courses throughout the day and it was all sooo good. Highly recommend this class. We made three different type of curries, traditional Thai dishes, apps, desserts and soups. Can't wait to cook for our fams! The next day, our friend Tony took us on an adventure in the mountains. We somehow both fit on the back of his bike and we drove to a nearby hiking trail. We hiked for a couple hours and then made our way to a famous temple on top of a hill. Before making our way back to the city we stopped at a water fall and did a rock slide with the locals. That night we ate at a street market and it was all so good. After our cooking classes we now know what each cart is making (it isn't in english) and love to try it all! It is so cheap and more authentic then restaurants. The next day we did a two day trek - two hours outside of the city. We rode elephants, hiked 3-4 hours along a river, went swimming / played in waterfalls and ended up in a hillside village that is home to 50 people in the Karen Tribe. We played volleyball and soccer with the local kids and got a very yummy home cooked meal served in candle light (the village doesn't have electricty). We slept in one of the families hut which was somewhat uncomfortable but fun to see how the tribes live. Basically in a wooden shed with just blankets and pillows. It was really humbling to see how they were living. We woke up at 4 am due to the sounds of the roosters and the village buffaloes. They kill them on special occasions. Our guide kept pointing to the animals saying "BBQ". haha. The village kids were adorable and were so fun to play with. At one point they were jumping from trees onto a buffalo and putting a stick in its butt. They have to amuse themselves somehow. It was also interesting to see the difference from the boys in the village to the girls. The girls are expected to just have babies, while the boys are allowed to play sports and go to school...(I know what you are thinking Matt and Steve!). The next day, we played with the kids some more and took about 50 pictures with men who were visiting the village. After we left the village we did some more hiking and ended our trek bamboo rafting. It was a lot of fun! Locals lined the river and tried to make us fall off the raft / threw water at us...it was pretty amusing. After we got back from our trek we got 2 hour massages which cost $12 and it was the best we have had! The next time we write we will be in Cambodia...hope all is well!

With the village kids

Bamboo rafting

Playing with the village kids

temple at the top of a mountain

Cooking Class - Making Soup

Soup and first course

Alexa at the Fish Spa - they eat your dead skin off your feet! Yum

Night Market - Tony drove us on his scooter

One of the many temples in Chiang Mai

The sign right before we started our hike

Don Suthep Temple - women have to cover their shoulders

On our way back to the City from our adventure

Rock sliding

Elephant riding

Rice fields

On our way to the village - one of the many waterfalls

Village kids

Our romantic candle light dinner with our trekking guide

After leaving Tonsei Beach we went to Koh Phangan, which is known for their full moon parties (aka rage fest 24 / 7). We took an over night ferry to the island which was interesting. You are assigned cots which lay side by side. Alexa luckily had cool guys on her side but Kori had some weirdo who kept kneeing her in the back all night. Naturally she would just knee him back to remind him to stay on his cot. Needless to say, we are now flying to our destinations :).  Once we arrived in Koh Phangan we took a taxi and boat to a remote beach called Bottle Beach. It was the most remote place we have both been. We stayed in a bunglow and slept with mosquito nets...it was an awesome hostel and once again made new friends. We stayed one night at the beach before trying a different area on the island. We ended up on the west coast of the island and was lucky enough to find a very nice resort with a private beach. The second day we were there we decided to rent a motorcycle and go hiking. Kori opted to drive while Alexa had a panic attack for a majority of the ride. We hiked up to numerous waterfalls and a viewpoint which was beautiful. After our bouldering experience in Tonsei Beach we are basically pros. On our way back we got lost (typical girls) and ended up driving on some very winding and hilly roads - Alexa almost cried and Kori tried to retain blood flow to her stomach which was being compromised from Alexa's iron grip. After one minor incident - nothing major we did make it back to our hotel. The next day we decided to try out Haad Rin (where the crazy parties are held) and went to a Muay Thai match at night. The match involved numerous fights and was pretty intense...naturally we made friends with one of the fighters.  After the match we walked to the beach where the parties take place and it was out of control. Basically the biggest rave you have ever seen. Of course Alexa and I left pretty early (wink wink) and made it safely home. The next day we took a boat and bus to Bangkok and spent the night before heading to northern Thailand. We are excited to spend more time in Bangkok towards the end of the trip. The next morning we booked a flight to Chiang Mai (which is in the north) to meet up with friends we met earlier. The city is awesome and a good change from the South. We are in our second day but love it already. Tomorrow we are doing a cooking class in the jungle outside the city. We are planning to stay for 5 days and will write again soon!

So far from our trip we have learned that most Swedish guys are 6'5'' +, that you will sleep with at least one lizard and pinnapples are easier to come by then water. 

Oh other notes:

- Alexa fed an elephant

- We went to the "red light district" of Chiang Mai to see the lady boys. Weird

- Kori got a tailored suit made

- We went to the night market in Chiang Mai and ate bugs / worms 

- Got matching bracelets

- Saw a large rat that we thought was chasing us

- Bus rides are miserable - especially when the water from the air conditioning falls on you for 6 hours

- You don't need your passport to fly domestically (one of us knows from experience)

Boats on Ko Phangnan in the morning

One of our beach bungalows - Bottle Beach, Koh Phangnan

Gorgeous sunset at Woktum Bay, Koh Phangnan

We're getting artsy ya'll

Phaeng Falls after a scary as shit motobike ride

We made it to the top!

Awesome dinner before Muay Thai matches where you cook your own food on the grill.

Muay Thai arena

Those crazy danes...

 Our one normal picture from Haad Rin

One of the many temples in Chiang Mai

Raileh / Tonsei Beach

Hello everyone!! We apologize for the delay in posting, but we were just having such an amazing time (and not a lot of internet access). Like how we said on our last post: "Hopefully we will update our blog tomorrow or the following day" and that was over a week ago?  Looks like we're getting on Thailand time...

Raileh beach and Tonsei beach (which Kori likes to call Bonsei) have been our favorite spots so far!  We only planned to stay a night or so and ended up there for 4 days - whoops.  We definitely had some interesting experiences...like the our first Thai massages - those ladies get up in your businessssss.  We didn't know that we had so many joints to pop, and although scary/painful at times, the overall massage was wonderful.  We also had 2 interesting adventures / near death experiences...both were when we tried to traverse our way between Raileh and Tonsei. 1st time was when we tried to reach Tonsei in the dark, over sharp rocks, with the tide coming in , with dresses and sandals on and sea creatures all around. The 2nd was going back to Raileh through the forest in pitch black.  Let's just leave it at - we made it and when told in full it makes for a good story / memory.

We met a lot of people on the beaches as well - from Canada, Israel, the U.S., Argentina, Italy, the list could go on.  We played beach volleyball most days, swam, toured secluded beaches, went on hikes, and drank fruit shakes.  Life doesn't suck.  We also discovered buckets.  Buckets = hell.  They are a mixture of alcohol, sodas, juices, whatever you want and make the next day pretty difficult. We had a good crew to go out with so everynight we had a really good time!

We invented an ingenious way to keep mosquitos out of our bungalow - shove the door mat, curtains, towels, and/or our clothes into any space between our room and the outside, and douse it with Deet.  Our room always looked like it was ransacked - but hey, bite-free!

If there was one place that we would recommend to people visiting Thailand, it would be Tonsei beach.  It's surrounded on both sides by limestone cliffs and is called a "backpackers' paradise".  Definitely the most hippie place we've ever been - glow in the dark decorations, amateur fire dancers, cushions instead of chairs, bob marley, and dreads. Oddly, we felt right at home. When it was time to leave it was bittersweet - we left with great memories, new friends and an awesome tan. Our next stop, Koh Phangan. Hopefully we will write soon!!

New friends on Tonsei

Best setup to enjoy dinner / drinks

In front of the limestone cliffs



Playing in the sand



Raileh beach



Raileh at sunset



Firedancer show!

Phuket and Aonang Beach

Hello Friends, Family and sketch balls reading our blog. We left Phuket yesterday (thank goodness) and arrived in Aonang (aka heaven). Phuket was full of prostitutes and gross men. Aonang is a lot more laid back and not as sketchy. Our last day in Phuket we did a tour of three islands with our guide Coco - which of course we ended up calling him coconut. The islands were beautiful but nothing like Aonang beach and Koh Phi Phi. We spent all day yesterday relaxing  / shopping in Aonang - we needed a day of rest. Today we did an all day boat tour which took us to multiple spots to snorkel and sight see. It is so beautiful and the water is crystal clear! There are islands everywhere and they are breathtaking. We went to Koh Phi Phi (which was hit hard by the tsunami) and the island where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. Tonight we're hopefully going to get massages and Kori desperately wants her hair to be blow dried - it's less than $1 and our hair feels like straw. Tomorrow we head to Railey Beach and will try to book a day trip to James Bond Island because apparently it was where they shot "The Man With The Golden Gun". We love not knowing what day or time it is (we don't have a watch) and just going with the flow. We have already done so much it is hard to believe it has only been a week. We miss you guys and wish you could all be with us! Hopefully we will update our blog tomorrow or the following day. Much love - Kori and Alexa

Long Island

On our way to Aonang Beach

Love life

Maya Bay - Where "The Beach" was shot

COCO! He loved us!

Bamboo Island

Thanks Alexa